Program Description
Overview
Level-up your career with the MFA-meets-Artist-Residency program featuring international faculty mentors. Rooted in critical investigation and self-disciplined creative practice, the Low-Residency Master of Fine Arts in Visual Studies program is ideal for students who seek the challenge and community of an immersive graduate program with a flexible structure. This program is perfect for most working artists, teachers, and professionals seeking a graduate degree that fits with their current lifestyle.
Structure
This 60-credit graduate program combines 3 intensive on-site residencies with periods of mentor-supported distance learning.
For three consecutive summers, students gather in Portland to study with graduate faculty and an international roster of visiting artists, fostering dialogue and comradery while creating new work.
The program’s interdisciplinary emphasis spans studio and media arts, performance, writing, and community-engaged practices.
When not attending the summer residencies, each student in the program is thoughtfully paired with an experienced professional artist who will meet with the student and act as a mentor. This one-on-one relationship fosters a highly customized and individualized educational experience. The mentor-based experience encourages self-disciplined and boldly experimental creative practice, while supporting the individual student’s needs.
Studio Space
During the summer intensives, low-residency MFA students receive constant access to individual studio spaces to make and store their work. Students have access to all the incredible facilities PNCA has to offer which includes tools, equipment, workstations, and production areas for painting, drawing, printmaking, ceramics, sculpture and furniture design, photography, animation, video and sound production, AR + VR, digital fabrication, game design, physical computing and interaction, illustration, textiles, and fashion at both the downtown Portland campus and in the glass building, a 25,000 sq ft former glass factory that houses workshop and fabrication spaces as well as graduate studios.
Take a virtual tour of our facilities here.
Funding & Support
Click here for more information about funding and support or contact Graduate Admissions directly for individual advising.
Eligibility & Application
Statement of Purpose [500 -700 words]
Use this statement to address the focus of your work and the direction you wish to pursue in the Low-Residency MFA in Visual Studies program. Discuss your reasons for applying to PNCA’s Low-Residency MFA in Visual Studies program and the artistic goals you wish to achieve during your time in the program. Be specific as to your focus of research and how you see this evolving or changing during your time in the Low-Residency MFA in Visual Studies program. Describe the pathway you envision for yourself as part of the program. Discuss the issues, concerns and influences in your work.
Portfolio of 10-15 images
How to put together a strong portfolio for Low Residency Visual Studies
It is recommended that submitted work be recent and represent the applicant’s strongest work. We look for portfolios that show evidence of engagement in critical thought. This selection of work can be in a variety of disciplines and does not necessarily need to be a single, cohesive body of work. Due to the multidisciplinary nature of the program, varied modes of making are understood and appreciated.
Find out more about our general graduate application requirements here.
Meet with us!
For more information about the Low-Residency MFA in Visual Studies program, get in touch with Ryan Pierce rpierce@willamette.edu.
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Winter Session Artist Lecture with Ranu Mukherjee
Our Winter Session concludes with a visit from multidisciplinary artist Ranu Mukherjee on Friday, Jan 13th at 5:30pm PST. Live via Zoom, RSVP for a link.
Winter Session Artist Lecture with Heather Hart
Join LRVS on Thursday, Jan 12th at 5:30pm PST for a visiting artist talk with luminary Heather Hart.
Elevate Your Career: Willamette University Graduate Recruitment Fair
Thinking of going back to school in 2023? Get a jump on your resolutions by learning about Willamette University’s graduate school opportunities.
Not Hibernating Lecture Series: Hannah Chalew December 5
Join PNCA’s Low-Residency Visual Studies MFA program on Monday, December 5th at 6pm PST for an artist talk with 2022 South Arts’ Southern Prize winner Hannah Chalew!
Not Hibernating Lecture Series with Cristina Victor November 21st
PNCA’s Low-Residency MFA in Visual Studies cordially invites you to join us for our quiet season “not hibernating” artist lectures, kicking off at 6pm on November 21st with Cristina Victor. Remote (via Zoom) and open to the public.